Cover version of the month #92
Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse covers The Zutons
Amy Winehouse teaming up with Mark Ronson to cover Valerie by The Zutons must be the one of the most successful cover versions of the 21st century.
Released in October 2007, almost exactly a year after Winehouse's phenomenal second album Back To Black, Valerie was very arguably the only music of note that Amy recorded after her breakthrough.
Peaking at number 2 in the charts, but spending 19 weeks inside the top 20, Ronson and Winehouse sold well over 300,000 copies of the single in just a couple of months.
The song was everywhere; radio, TV, becoming a favourite of wedding bands, in commercials .... with the royalties ensuring The Zutons Dave McCabe, who originally wrote the song, could buy a house. Indeed, McCabe can still pretty much live off the royalties.
The Zutons released Valerie as a single in June 2006 and it reached a peak of number 9 in the charts. The bands Tired Of Hanging Around album reached number 2. They were doing well and I remember catching them play the Barrowland around this time. They looked like a real gang; McCabe - the curly haired frontman, Abi Harding on saxaphone, Russell Pritchard on bass (now playing with Noel Gallager's High Flying Birds) and friends. The Zutons came out of a Liverpool scene that the NME lazily labelled scallydelica.
A love of Love and getting stoned seemed to shine out of Liverpool bands. I used to enjoy reading all the interviews with the likes of The Coral. It sounded like they just sat around listening to music or playing music all day long. And that came out in the music being released on Liverpool label Deltasonic - set up by Alan Wills, who used to drum with Shack.
The Basement, The Coral, The Zutons, The Little Flames and others were all bands kicking around the Liverpool scene and the gig circuit across the country. Of course, The Coral and The Zutons broke through.
I have found it really interesting to revisit The Zutons original version of Valerie for this blog as I'm much more familiar with the Winehouse and Ronson version these days.
On my first time revisiting The Zutons version, I thought it sounded a little slow. But it improved after a couple of listens, after I reacquainted myself with the original; jangling guitars, a raspy soulful vocal, strong backbeat and stabbing horns.
However, I do prefer the Ronson and Winehouse version. The beat feels more urgent, the groove is cooler, Winehouse sings effortlessly and the production (as you would expect with Ronson) is absolutely top class.
Winehouse plays with the vocals, accentuating words and phrases. Her voice crackles, soars, goes a little deeper and then goes beautifully clear. What a singer, what a sad, sad loss.
Ronson deserves a tonne of credit for his arrangement; the horns, bass groove, percussion - it really is sublime. Ronson produced Amy's iconic Back To Black album and you wonder what delights the two of them could have conjured up if they had worked together again. We'll never know.
The Zutons original and the Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse cover version are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE
Valerie - The Zutons official video
Valerie - Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse
Valerie (live) - Amy Winehouse
Previous covers of the month blogs
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash
44. Witchi Tai To
45. Our Lips Are Sealed
46. Sunshine Of Your Love
47. Here Comes The Sun
48. I Think We're Alone Now
49. Don't Let Me Down
50. It's Oh So Quiet
51. Alcoholiday
52. Summer Holiday
53. Who Do You Think You Are?
54. Head On
55. Nothing Compares 2 U
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